Old Hollywood star Eva Marie Saint celebrates her 100th birthday on the Fourth of July, surrounded by four generations of her family.
Eva won an Oscar for her first movie, Elia Kazan’s seminal 1954 drama On The Waterfront, which starred her alongside Marlon Brando.
This early triumph kickstarted a glittering silver screen career that saw her play opposite Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest. She also enjoyed a successful run on TV, winning an Emmy Award for the miniseries People Like Us, based on the Dominick Dunne novel.
Old Hollywood star Eva Marie Saint celebrates her 100th birthday surrounded by four generations of her family.
Eva plans to spend her birthday in Los Angeles with her family, including her son, Darrell Hayden, 69, and daughter, Laurette Hayden, 65, whom she had with her late husband, Jeffrey Hayden. She will also be joined by her four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Reflecting on her milestone birthday, Eva shared, I certainly don’t feel 100 years old
, and attributed her active lifestyle to her well-being, saying: I continue to take walks out in the fresh air, like watching baseball—especially the Los Angeles Dodgers, and enjoy time with my family and friends. A good life.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, on Independence Day in 1924, Eva received a Quaker upbringing in upstate New York with her sister, Adelaide. After studying acting at Bowling Green University in Ohio, she moved to New York City to continue her training at the renowned Actors Studio.
Although her career had a bumpy start, she eventually landed a role in the Broadway show The Trip To Bountiful in 1953, which caught the attention of the producers of On The Waterfront. They cast her in the film, which became her onscreen debut.
Eva’s performance in her debut film earned her an Oscar.
In the film, Eva played Edie, a gentle Catholic trainee teacher whose brother is murdered by a corrupt dockworkers’ union. She falls into an affair with Brando’s character, the rough-hewn ex-fighter Terry Malloy, and together, they find the courage to stand up to the union.
The film’s success propelled Eva into other projects, including the comedy That Certain Feeling opposite Bob Hope and the romantic western Raintree County with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift.
One of Eva’s most iconic roles came soon after in Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, where she played the inscrutably beautiful undercover spy Eve Kendall. The film was a box office smash and one of Hitchcock’s highest-grossing pictures, with Eva’s Edith Head costumes becoming enduring symbols of Old Hollywood fashion.
Eva’s early triumph in the film industry led to a successful career with roles opposite Hollywood icons.
As her career progressed into the 1960s, Eva worked with New Hollywood heavyweights such as Paul Newman in the biblical epic Exodus and Warren Beatty in the tragedy All Fall Down.
While the 1970s saw a slowdown in her film work, Eva thrived in television, earning five Emmy nominations and eventually winning for People Like Us. She played Cybill Shepherd’s mother on the 1980s dramedy Moonlighting, which also starred a young Bruce Willis.
The 1980s marked Eva’s comeback to the big screen, starting with her role as Tom Hanks’ mother in the 1986 comedy Nothing In Common. She continued acting into her late 80s, playing Clark Kent’s adoptive mother in the 2006 movie Superman Returns and a supporting role in the 2014 romantic fantasy Winter’s Tale, her final film before retirement.
Eva made a memorable appearance at the Oscars in 2018, presenting the award for best costume.
Eva’s contributions to screen acting are commemorated with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—one for movies and one for television. She is currently the oldest surviving Oscar winner and is one of the last living links to the golden age of Hollywood.
On a personal note, Eva enjoyed a happy and stable family life, maintaining strong bonds with her supportive parents. She and Jeffrey Hayden were married for over 60 years, from 1951 until his death from cancer in 2016.
When asked about the secret to their long marriage, Eva recalled with a laugh: Now, Jeff and I did an interview, and this very prim and proper lady said, ‘Miss Saint, how do you stay married?’ This was, I think, when we were married for 40 years. So I become serious and I say, ‘Well, I think you have interests in things that you do together.’ You certainly have to decide whether you’re going to have a family or not.’ So I go on and on. She turns to Jeff. She said, ‘Well, Mr. Hayden, what do you think the secret is?’ And he said, ‘Sex.’
Even at 93, Eva left the door open to future acting endeavors, saying, You have to play it by ear, by heart, by soul.